Sunday News | Happenings From Downtown Las Vegas To Summerlin

Whew! It feels as though it’s been a crazy few weeks in Las Vegas. Thankfully the openings and announcements slowed down a little this week. In fact, there weren’t any major happenings this week. Personally, I’m thankful for the slowdown since my mother made an extended pit stop in Las Vegas this week while touring the national parks out west.

Restaurant News

Since I’m the subject at hand right now let’s start with two of my favorite Las Vegas restaurants expanding. This week Nacho Daddy confirmed the rumor that they would be opening a fourth Las Vegas location. A Vegas Strip location has been in the rumor mill for over a year. The new restaurant will be located at the Miracle Mile Shops inside Planet Hollywood and will open in mid-August. This moderately priced Mexican restaurant fits nicely in the mix of dining options at Planet Hollywood.

Du-Par’s Restaurant & Bakery recently opened its second Las Vegas location. Their new Las Vegas location brings the best pancakes in the world to Suncoast casino in Summerlin. You might be familiar with the DuPar’s name from their location at the Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas. What you might not know is that DuPar’s is actually a small chain of restaurants that started in Los Angeles in 1938. Similar to the location at Golden Gate, you can get the delicious pancakes 24 hours a day at Suncoast. Not coincidentally I’ll be making my first visit of the year to Suncoast this week.

Local News

Staying in Summerlin, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Red Rock Resort just celebrated its 10th anniversary this weekend. This is one of the nicest casinos in all of Las Vegas and it doesn’t look more than a few years old. I’m happy to call this my home casino and second office.

There’s a new master plan for downtown Las Vegas going in front of Las Vegas City Council for a vote on May 18th. The new master plan is essentially a guideline for long-range planning for the area. This is general city planning so it includes the non-touristy areas of downtown Las Vegas. The plan calls for the addition of “trees and parks strategically placed near many more residential buildings, markets and transit hubs.” The ultimate goal is to make downtown Las Vegas as a whole similar to neighborhoods in cities like Seattle and San Francisco. Between Downtown Project businesses and general entrepreneurship in the area, we’re already seeing this taking place. You can read more details on the master plan here.

MGM Resorts

With all of the commotion over The Park and T-Mobile Arena opening, I missed an interesting interview between Johnny Kats from the Las Vegas Sun and Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts. In the interview, Murren reiterated that Monte Carlo would be getting a new name this summer. He also made his first public comments about new additions coming to Excalibur and Luxor. Murren first mentioned this on an earnings call in October 2015.

Speaking of MGM Resorts, New World Wealth surveyed more than 800 millionaires around the world and Bellagio was listed as the favorite hotel in the world of millionaires. How about that?! You can read more about the favorite hotels and airlines of the rich and famous at CNBC.

Riviera Sign On The Move

Last but not least, the neon sign from the marquee at Riviera won’t be going to the Neon Boneyard in downtown Las Vegas…yet. A sign collector in Reno purchased the sign and has plans to restore it to some of its glory. However, his recently launched IndieGoGo campaign didn’t raise enough money to cover the restoration fees. Keep your fingers crossed that there might be a negotiation between the Neon Museum and the collector to bring the sign back to where it belongs in Las Vegas.

Marc

Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.